Business & Market Intelligence

China to Become No.1 Exporter Worldwide in 2008, Surpassing Germany and US

China
is set to over take U.S. as the No.2 exporter worldwide this year and with
an estimated $1.4 trillion dollars in exports in 2008, China will surpass
Germany in 2008 to become the No.1 exporter in the world, according to
Germany's federal foreign trade body BFAI.

The Chinese had surpassed Japan in 2003,
with Chinese makers supplying almost 20% of Japan's machinery imports.

Key Highlights:

Germany will continue to be the No.1
exporter in the world for the fifth year in a row in 2007, but will
yield to China in 2008. Germany's export strength lies in engineering
and technological goods.

China is already the largest exporter
of electronic goods, with total exports of $300 billion, ahead of the
US and South Korea. China's second-biggest category of exports is
clothing and textiles.

Direct foreign investment played a big
role in the Chinese expansion, with nearly 60% of exports coming from
companies with some non-Chinese ownership.

In machine-building, China had already
surpassed Britain and France and was now fifth-placed behind Germany,
the United States, Japan and Italy.